The first Rasmussen Reports post-primary telephone survey of Likely Connecticut Voters finds Democrat Dan Malloy earning his highest level of support against Republican Thomas Foley in the state's gubernatorial contest.

Malloy picks up 48% of the vote to Foley's 33%. Six percent (6%) prefer another candidate in the race, and 13% are undecided.

Both men won their respective party primaries last Tuesday. Support for Malloy climbed into the 40s for the first time last month when he led Foley 44% to 35%. Support for Foley has fallen from 44% in early April and now is at its lowest point to date. 

This race now shifts from Leans Democrat to Solid Democrat in the Rasmussen Reports Gubernatorial Scorecard. 

Seventy-nine percent (79%) of Democrats support Malloy, while 77% of Republicans back Foley. Unaffiliated voters prefer Malloy by a 36% to 27% margin. However, one-in-five unaffiliated voters (21%) is undecided at this point, and another 16% prefer some other candidate.

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The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Connecticut was conducted on August 11, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Richard Blumenthal has slipped below the 50% mark of support this month against Linda McMahon, the winner of last week's GOP Senate Primary, in Connecticut's U.S. Senate race. 

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Connecticut voters view Malloy as politically liberal, while 25% regard him as moderate. Fifty-two percent (52%) see Foley as conservative, but 20% think he's politically moderate. But 21% don't know enough about either candidate to describe their political views.

Despite the perceived ideological differences, voters have similar views of where the candidates stand on the political spectrum. Forty-four percent (44%) believe Foley's views are mainstream, while roughly the same number (45%) say that about Malloy's. Twenty-seven percent (27%) believe Foley's views are extreme, and 25% think the same of Malloy.

Twenty-three percent (23%) of Connecticut voters view Malloy Very Favorably, up slightly from June. Fourteen percent (14%) hold a Very Unfavorable opinion of the Democrat.

Just eight percent (8%) view Foley Very Favorably, showing no change from the last survey. Fourteen percent (14%) view the Republican Very Unfavorably.

At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with a strong opinion more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.

Sixty-five percent (65%) approve of the job Republican Governor Jodi Rell is doing as governor, up 12 points from June.  Thirty-five percent (35%) disapprove of her job performance.

Thirty-seven percent (37%) of voters in Connecticut rate their personal finances as good or excellent, while 22% rate their finances as poor. Those findings are comparable to those on the national level. While 22% of voters in the state say their finances are getting better, 52% say they are getting worse.

Rasmussen Reports also has released recent polls on the 2010 governor's races in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia,  Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland,   Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,   Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

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